Despite years of overall industry drop-off, timber still is king in Cowlitz County, Washington, at least when it comes to wages.

According to a Thursday report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, loggers and sawmill workers in Cowlitz County earn a higher hourly wage than their counterparts anywhere else in the country. And jobs for truck drivers, who primarily haul logs in this area, are rising to meet increasing demand.

“The declining period is over. I think that it has stabilized,” said Ted Sprague, president of the Cowlitz Economic Development Council. In contrast, though, workers overall here make an average of about 5 percent less than the national average, according to the Bureau.

The agency reported that Cowlitz County workers in four different fields in the timber industry are the highest paid in the nation. Tree fallers in Cowlitz County make an average of $30.07 an hour, about 50 percent higher than the national average.

Cowlitz County loggers make an average hourly wage of $23.76, saw machine operators are paid an average of $19.57 an hour and other wood machine operators made $20.42.